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The hairs at the back ofhis shoulder into ain, fear and loss evolving into understanding, acceptance And then the song ended, and the ain, faded back into darkness

I opened aze

I dippedthat which he’d allowed me to share And when I looked back at hi atpast, into memory or recollection And from his expression, not an especially happy one

• • •

"We’ll take care of hirandfather promised when the shifters had moved back to their bikes "I’ll accoue, speak to the medical examiner personally You’ll remember they have protocols in place"

It wasn’t the first tio There’d been several killed in a botched attempt by Gabriel’s brother, Adam, to take over the Pack

Gabriel picked up his helmet "I know you do what you can, within the paraot I’m in the same position"

"Then we understand each other," randfather said A van from the Cook County Medical Exa to go have that talk," he said, then squeezed my hand "Get home safely"

"We will," I promised, and he made his way to the van

"We should probably talk tomorrow," Gabriel said "We’ll host a wake at the bar, and you’ll want to wait until after It wouldn’t be the best time for vampires to show up"

Little Red was the Pack’s official bar in Ukrainian Village It was a orn dive but served some of the best fare I’d ever tasted

"I appreciate the warning," Ethan said

Gabriel pulled on his hel over his bike He started it with a rumble, then turned the bike back onto the street Fallon followed hiain

Ethan put a hand on the back ofI had planned, Sentinel"

"You hardly could have predicted this"

"No, not the particulars But that trouble would find us, even in Wrigleyville? That, I should have predicted"

"You can owe aotten ht by the time we dropped off Mallory and Catcher in Wicker Park She and Catcher stood on the sideith their fingers linked But for the evening of supernaturalhoht on the town

Mallory covered a yawn "I’ll get started on the syh Catcher’s pretty swamped at work" She looked at Ethan "Maybe you could talk to Paige? See if she’s got tiht," he said, which made three of us "And we should have alchemical texts in the library to assist with the translation"

"I’ll talk to Jeff," Catcher said "Maybe there’s so standpoint--soood idea," Mallory said "There were a lot of syht didn’t turn out like we’d planned I know you were looking forward to an evening at the ballpark"